COASTAL Lounge Beach at Umgababa was a lively scene when people from all over the South Coast and beyond got caught up in the frenzy as massive seine nets brought sardines to shore on June 7.

Also read: Sardine run quietens down … for now

Chip Murray said he makes the trip from Empangeni to the South Coast every year to catch the fish. He is one of thousands of tourists who flock to the coast to witness or take part in the feeding frenzy.

“This is what my family looks forward to every June, it’s so spectacular. The sardines are also delicious, that’s why we keep coming,” said Murray.

In terms of sheer numbers of the individual fish involved, the sardine run is said to be the world’s biggest migration of species in nature. It is bigger than the Great Migration in the Serengeti that sees millions of wildebeest, zebras, and other species migrate from Tanzania to Kenya.

Besides being good for tourism, the spectacle provides local communities with a financial lifeline, as some sell their catches to put food on the table.

Swimming at all beaches remains prohibited because shark nets were removed at the beginning of the sardine run.

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